772: Chapter 772 The Terrified Pirates

The weapon Systems mounted on the starships' hulls were fully charged, and their shields were completely activated. They surrounded all the pirate starships with a magnificent Aura, leaving no gap for the enemy to escape.

Inside the main command ship of the Guard Division, the intelligence officer quickly pulled up the interstellar crime files. Staring at the pirate fleet's identification on the light screen, he immediately turned and reported to the Detachment Commander in a low voice.

"Reporting to the Detachment Commander! After comparison and confirmation, this group of pirates is the Meteorite Pirate Group that has been moving around the border Asteroid Belt, committing multiple robberies of transport fleets. They have numerous criminal records on file with us and are major wanted targets in this Star Domain!"

The Detachment Commander stood before the command window, watching the panicked pirate fleet within the encirclement. A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth, and his tone was incredibly sharp.

"Good grief, so it's this bunch of repeat offenders who refuse to change. This time, they actually dared to proactively provoke the Empire's authority and plunder an official fleet!"

He immediately raised his hand and issued combat orders over the communication channel, his voice sonorous and powerful.

"All units attention! Quickly deploy a full-scale encirclement and activate the highest Rank of space blockade. Completely seal off all space jump nodes in this Star Domain. I want to see where this group of outlaws can run to this time!"

As the order was given, the Guard Division starships immediately adjusted their formation, slowly tightening the encirclement. The space blockade devices were activated simultaneously, completely locking down the space in the entire sector and thoroughly cutting off the pirate fleet's path of retreat.

On the other side, the Meteorite Pirate Group, which had just finished plundering and was preparing to evacuate, instantly fell into a dead silence when they saw the dense clusters of white Guard Division starships suddenly appearing in the surrounding Void Realm.

All the pirates froze in place. Their faces, which had been full of greedy ecstasy, instantly turned pale. Many people's legs shook uncontrollably, and they almost collapsed in the ship's cabins, their eyes filled with nothing but thick, inescapable fear and despair.

A pirate lackey responsible for peripheral monitoring looked at the layers of encirclement signals on the detection light screen that left no blind spots. His voice shook beyond recognition as he shouted to the Pirate Boss with a sob.

"It's over! Boss, it's completely over! We... we are completely surrounded! There isn't even a single gap to break through!"

The Pirate Boss stared fixedly at the endless white starships outside the porthole. He clenched his fists so hard his fingertips turned white. His face was ashen, and he growled through gritted teeth.

"Damn it! How can this be? How did these people from the Guard Division get here so fast!"

His heart was full of disbelief. Operating in this border Star Domain for years, he had long since figured out the Guard Division's response patterns.

In the past, no matter which robbery it was, from the crime to the evacuation, the Guard Division would take at least several dozen minutes to arrive even if they received a distress call. They always had enough time to complete a jump and escape.

But this time, from the moment they appeared to blockade the space and plunder the planet to when they were ready to evacuate, the total time elapsed was barely over ten minutes. According to past experience, the Guard Division's fleet should still be halfway to the scene right now. It was impossible for them to accurately block them so quickly, let alone deploy such a massive fleet.

He racked his brains but couldn't understand the reason, and no one would tell him that what they plundered this time wasn't ordinary supplies at all. Instead, it was precious cargo carrying thousands of artificial planets and planets with human civilizations, whose importance far exceeded ordinary goods.

For this batch of supplies, the Guard Division had directly deployed a full-strength combat readiness detachment. Such a fleet size, if placed in normal times, would be enough to directly suppress a large-scale rebellion in an entire small Galaxy. It was by no means a conventional configuration for dealing with ordinary pirate raids.

Watching the Guard Division starships outside the porthole pressing in step by step and the encirclement constantly tightening, the Pirate Boss's heart pounded wildly. Cold sweat kept pouring down his forehead, and his eyes were filled with the ruthlessness of a desperate gamble.

He suddenly roared at the lackey beside him, his voice becoming hoarse due to panic.

"Quick! Don't just stand there! Immediately start the space jump engines and break through with full force! I don't believe their Guard Division would dare to recklessly chase us to the death!"

"Yes!"

The lackey trembled all over in fear and dared not delay for a second. He scrambled to the space navigation console, his hands flying across the light screen to try and retrieve nearby space jump coordinates and initiate the maximum power jump sequence.

But after just a short moment, the lackey's movements suddenly froze. Looking at the glaring blockade warning on the screen, his face turned as white as paper, and his whole body shook uncontrollably.

He stumbled as he turned around and reported to the boss with a sob in his voice.

"Boss, it's bad! Something terrible has happened! We... we've been reverse space-blockaded by the Guard Division!"

"The jump engines are completely malfunctioning! All space jump nodes in this entire Star Domain have been thoroughly locked by the Guard Division's blockade devices. We can't find any exit to jump through at all. We're completely trapped here!"

"Damn it! A bunch of useless trash!"

Hearing this desperate news, the Pirate Boss's eyes nearly split from rage. He suddenly clenched his fist and smashed it hard against the metal console. His knuckles instantly turned red and the skin broke, but even the intense pain couldn't suppress the fear in his heart.

His whole body shook violently and uncontrollably, his teeth chattered, and his eyes were filled with nothing but endless despair.

Having hung around the edge of interstellar space for years, he knew better than anyone the consequences of being captured by the Imperial Guard Division.

This group of people were all vagrants within the Empire's territory and had no legal Imperial Citizen status at all. Unlike Imperial Citizens who, after committing a crime, could still receive the baseline protection of the law and have the rights to litigation and sentence reduction.

If they had Imperial Citizen status and a stable place to live, they would never have taken such risks and walked the dead-end path of Interstellar Pirates, living on the edge of a blade.

Once they fell into the hands of the Guard Division, what awaited them would only be the harshest judgment. Life imprisonment would be a luxury; they might even be directly exiled to a border Dead Star, never to be reincarnated, with no way out ever again.

The next second, a cold, majestic male voice with an extremely strong sense of oppression passed through the starships' public communication channel, penetrating all the pirate fleet's communication barriers and echoing clearly in the command cabin of every pirate starship, completely crushing the pirates' last bit of hope.

The Detachment Commander stood on the bridge of the main command ship, his posture upright and his face cold. He spoke into the communicator in a deep voice, his tone brook no argument.

"All personnel on the pirate ships, listen up. You have been completely surrounded by the Third Patrol Detachment under the Public Security General Brigade of the Guard Division stationed in the Lipugong Supercluster. This entire Star Domain has been completely sealed off. There is no escape!"

"You are now formally ordered to immediately shut down all shipboard weapon Systems, give up all resistance, and remain in place to await our capture! If you dare to resist or attempt to break through, we will immediately activate our strongest military force and take all forceful measures. You will be responsible for the consequences!"

The loud warning echoed repeatedly in the cabins of the pirate ships. Combined with the dense clusters of Guard Division starships outside the portholes with their cannons fully charged, the sense of pressure was overwhelming, making all the pirates freeze up, not even daring to breathe.

Inside the pirate command cabin, the group of lackeys had completely lost their footing. Their faces were as white as paper as they crowded around the boss, their eyes full of panic and despair. They asked urgently in a jumble of voices, their tones carrying an unstoppable tremor.

"Boss, what do we do now? We're completely out of options!"

"There's no way to fight! This is a full-strength detachment of the Guard Division, all of them Empire main battle starships. We just have these pieces of junk ships; going head-to-head is like an egg hitting a rock!"